By Ingrid Hipkiss
The Queenstown Harbor Master says irresponsible tourists should be made to pay, if their actions prompt costly rescue efforts.
Marty Black says a group who ventured onto Lake Wakatipu on a home made raft are stupid and should be made to pay.
The group’s home-made raft consisted of four tyre tubes and a wooden frame held together with bungy cords and duct tape.
“You could say people had brain fade or whatever, it’s just beyond belief that people would be so stupid to go out in something like this,” says Harbour Master Marty Black.
But that's exactly what Michael Gribbon and his two female companions did.
Mr Gribbon says the adventure wasn’t thoroughly thought out.
“No I’m afraid we didn't have life jackets no, it was a bit of a last minute decision we should have had life jackets,” he says.
He says the hour and a half paddle out to Pigeon Island on Wednesday went smoothly.
But the raft wasn't up to the change in weather.
“It is actually quite sturdy, but it's only sturdy if the water's like that, it’s not sturdy if the weather changes.”
And change it did. By Thursday morning the lake was choppy and the bad weather had set in.
“We were blown by the wind into another island where there was no shelter for us so we got stuck on Pig Island - we had to stay there all night in the rain.”
The group didn't realise a search had been mounted with a boat spending several hours searching in the dark and a helicopter readied to join the search on Friday morning.
Mr Black says search and rescue operations are costly.
“It costs money and at the end of the day people that are stupid like these guys were deserve to pay - end of story,” he says.
They eventually made it back to shore under their own steam and were spotted by rescuers.
“We were really wet and cold and we would have had to climb the bank and hitch hike -I'm glad we got rescued,” says Mr Gribbon.
But after a night in the open and verging on hypothermia it wasn't exactly a warm welcome.
“They took a fair bollocking from me and we took them to police station took statements. Humble pie at the end of it,” says Mr Black.
The trio got off with a warning and they hope others will learn from their mistakes.
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